Development Effectiveness Reviews 2013

The Annual Development Effectiveness Review (ADER) provides an overview of how the African Development Bank is contributing to Africa’s development. This year’s ADER, the third in the series, explores the theme of transition towards a sustainable growth path. The ADER emphasizes that Africa’s longer-term growth trajectory is closely tied to the sustainable management of its natural resources.

The ADER addresses three broad questions: What development progress is Africa making? How well is AfDB contributing to Africa’s development? And how well is AfDB managing itself to better support Africa’s development?

Africa is now the fastest growing continent in the world and its collective GDP per capita has reached $953. Strong economic growth has made major inroads into income poverty with the share of the population living below the poverty line falling from 51% in 2005 to 39% in 2012. The challenge has been to find ways to address continuing inequality so that all Africans are able to benefit from this economic growth. The Bank recognizes that pursuing an inclusive and sustainable growth agenda is essential to reduce these inequalities.

From this point of departure, the ADER outlines some of the key results achieved through the Bank’s interventions across the continent in private-sector development, regional integration and trade, infrastructure, agriculture and food security , gender and human development , governance and transparency, fragile and conflict-affected countries, environment and clean energy. The ADER also reports on the health of the Bank’s investment portfolio and continuing efforts to strengthen the Bank as a development organization.

Senegal is at the forefront of developing public-private partnerships in infrastructure to promote structural transformation. Using its development resources to leverage private sector investment, it has launched a number of major infrastructure projects that will boost productive investment. This has enabled Senegal to proceed with ambitious investments in major transport infrastructure, improving its integration with the regional economy. By giving the country’s producers access to larger markets, these investments are key to achieving structural transformation and thus accelerating progress in the fight against poverty. Senegal is now sharing its expertise on public-private partnerships with other African countries.

These ambitious reforms in Senegal can only be achieved through a strong tradition of peaceful democratic rule with successful elections. A stable democracy is the foundation for the national development agenda, giving the Government the legitimacy to proceed with its planned reforms.

The Bank is committed to support the Government by introducing some important innovations to ensure that all of the Bank’s different resources – both financial and operational – work together to maximize development impact. Senegal is at the forefront with a substantial private sector portfolio that complements public sector operations. To support this portfolio, we have been combining our expertise in major transactions with initiatives to improve the national and regional institutions that are needed for the investments to be effective.

The Development Effectiveness Review 2013 for Zambia provides a comprehensive report on the Bank’s performance in the country and tracks how Bank’s operations have contributed to the Zambia’s development results. During the last decade, Zambia has achieved spectacular levels of growth, averaging over 6% per year, and showing an impressive GDP per capita increase, from $330 in 2002 to $1,469 in 2012. By 2010, this strong growth performance had moved Zambia from the ranks of least-developed countries to lower-middle-income status – a remarkable achievement.

The 58-page publication emphasizes that Zambia’s strong growth performance is by no means fortuitous. It has been underpinned by sound macroeconomic management, with tight control over inflation and a stable currency, and supported through strategic investments in overcoming transport and energy bottlenecks. However, while economic growth is indispensable to lifting more Zambians out of poverty, it is not sufficient. Zambia needs to pay close attention to the quality of development, and to press ahead with structural change in its economy. Evidence suggests that Zambia is on track to achieve greater diversification towards labour-intensive sectors such as manufacturing and commercial agriculture. “In recent years there have been encouraging signs of diversification in the Zambian economy, with a fivefold increase of non-traditional exports, from $566 million in 2005 to $2,852 million in 2012,” said Simon Mizrahi, Director of the Bank’s Quality Assurance and Results Department. “This Development Effectiveness Review examines Zambia’s progress in placing its current strong growth performance on sustainable foundations, and it looks at how the Bank is contributing to this ambitious development agenda.”